Le 18/04/12, 10:25
115.188916-8.4095178
As an introduction I will start with a few facts like a short “Bali for dummies”:
So Bali is actually a small island of the Indonesian archipelago, with about 3,5 millions people (but the island being so small, it looks really densely populated) just on the east of the bigger Java Island .
The main particularity of the Balinese is their religion, they are still hinduist whereas Indonesia is now the most populated muslim country in the world. Bali is also the most turistical island in Indonesia. It is especially popular with Australians, who enjoy surfing and cheap partying in the south coast and japaneses who enjoy cheap massages and spa (and for the women apparently male prostitutes). Europeans come here more for the culture and diving.
And I ? well I guessed I picked Bali because it was a strategic stop between Aussie and south east asia and I was also attracted by the probably long gone “mystic”” we all heard about this place.
So I arrived at Depensar at 21h and such a shock after leaving Australia, just like when you come from Spain to Morocco, suddenly emerging in a totally different culture and way of life, with all the ”cliches” of a touristical third world destination...very cheap, noisy, dirty, and this impresion that you just converted in a very shining white wallet full of money.
I could afford the luxury to take a cab to go directly to Ubud in the center of the Island (one hour drive...15€) and avoid spending the night in the superticial and full of Australian drunk dumbies beach of Kuta.
Ubud is in reality a funny agglomeration of villages, and the cultural capital of Bali.
It is also touristical but at this time of the year not overcrowded.
In itself it is not really a beautiful town and there’s not many attractions to see, so why foreigners love Ubud ?
It is generally famous for its good food, the spas, and the Balinese dance shows...and as a good tourist I did as expected from me:
• Food is really okay although after a while I became a little saturated with fried bananas, peanut sauce and rice !
• Of course I obviously couldn’t resist the spa experience which consisted of a one hour full body massage (nothing erotic even if the masseur insisted maybe a little bit on my bums...), then an exfoliation product with honey, then yogurt (so for once in my life I felt like a giant cake !). And to finish a flower bath (ok I’m not such a pussy and I had asked for a seaweed bath...don’t know why I had the flowers instead ! anyway after the cake I could experience being a Balinese princess).
• I assisted to two different dancing shows, because they are many different types of dances...the first one was a Legong and the second one a Kecak (o fire dance), nice but frankly a bit of a turist trap.
Still what I enjoyed the most in my two days in Ubud was renting a scooter for an afternoon to explore the countryside around and to visit some temples in the other neighbourhoods. At first it seems totally dangerous and crazy...but then you realize nobody goes very fast anyway because of the road, the people, the trucks anf the others motorbikes, then you understand that there are just no rules, everybody can stop everywhere, can do whatever they want...you start to do the same just trying to avoid bumping into someone in front of you (for the one behind you no worries, they are the one who are supposed to look !) making yourself notice from time to times with your horn if needed. After one hour or so it even gets really fun and exciting (far more than my bungee jumping in NZ for instance!) and the only real trouble is just finding your way, because there are almost no road signs.
Plus it really helped me for my next three days because I rented a car to visit the east of the Island. And what a “car” ! it was a Suzuki Jimmy. From outside it looks like a small jeep for 2 people (nice!), but of course it is not a 4 WD, I could not go further than 70 km/h (imposible to actually go faster than that with the driving conditions here), the radio didn’t work (at least I had air con), rearviewmirror and seat broken...probably the most crappy car I’ve ever droven...but somehow I liked it and it felt really “local”, and it managed to take me to my destination without any trouble (not even a policeman to bribe), so I won’t complain.
Anyway , alone with my buddy Jimmy, we travelled to the amazing rice fields first to Pura Besakih temple, the biggest and most sacred site of the island, on the feet of Mount Agung volcanoe. Most travellers have to face here the constant harassment of the “false guides mafia” and they are apparently very annoying. But I got very lucky since I arrived there on a rainy day and there was at the moment a huge and very crowded ceremony...so nobody really cared about me and I could enjoy the temple at is best (just see the pics), it was a very special sensation, very spiritual, even if I understand nothing about this complex religion (they have many gods and demons, a complicated caste system still existing and a very large mythology as well).
After that I spent the night in an outstanding balinese countryside landscape of terrace rice fields.
On the next day I made my way through Amed on the northeast coast. The place has become increasingly touristical in the last few years. Now the coastshore is full of restaurants and bungalow hotels for about 8 kms. Here come mostly european tourists for diving. Guess what ? I did the same!
The snorkelling was not as impressive as Australia though, the water wasn’t that clear for a start, and since we are on the thirld word the garbage management doesn’t really exist so you find rubbish on the beach and in the water...But I also wanted to dive for a second time on a very special site. The wreck of an american second war ship called the “Liberty”. Since I’m not a certified diver, once again I had to do an introduction dive...but nothing to do with my first experience: I had two dives of 50 min (instead of one of 20 for less than half the price), and our instructor an englishman called David gave us much more explanations and independence. The site is also perfect for beginners, it’s a huge boat of 100m long lying close to the beach between 5 and 30m deep. So it is very easy to access, I guess we dived to 10, 12m...and on the second time since we were doing well we could even “enter” in the wreck !! corals, fishs, wreck...frankly I felt like Jacques Cousteau! it was unbelievable...and just my second diving day in my life, problably one of my top 5 experiences in my journey. I was also told afterwards that is it one of the most famous diving sites in Asia, maybe that’s the reason why at some point we were like 15 divers around the wreck even if we were on low season.
After that I drove back to Ubud to drop off Jimmy, and came back to the coast to take a fast boat for the Gili islands near Lombok, the next big Island on the east of Bali.
Just 5 days in “the island of Gods” then, but 5 amazing ones. This is not the most beautiful place I’ve seen, but I really loved it. The spa, the drive, the dive helped of course but above all what really surprised me is that Bali still has a lot of personality...it’s overcrowded with tourists but people seem to live as always (even globalization with internet, cell phones, western music everywhere doesn’t seem to have change that much their habits), they are also very welcoming, not agresive at all with foreigners. In conclusion, to me Bali is still Bali (you just have to get outside of the beach resorts to find it), hope you’ll see it before that changes.
So Bali is actually a small island of the Indonesian archipelago, with about 3,5 millions people (but the island being so small, it looks really densely populated) just on the east of the bigger Java Island .
The main particularity of the Balinese is their religion, they are still hinduist whereas Indonesia is now the most populated muslim country in the world. Bali is also the most turistical island in Indonesia. It is especially popular with Australians, who enjoy surfing and cheap partying in the south coast and japaneses who enjoy cheap massages and spa (and for the women apparently male prostitutes). Europeans come here more for the culture and diving.
And I ? well I guessed I picked Bali because it was a strategic stop between Aussie and south east asia and I was also attracted by the probably long gone “mystic”” we all heard about this place.
So I arrived at Depensar at 21h and such a shock after leaving Australia, just like when you come from Spain to Morocco, suddenly emerging in a totally different culture and way of life, with all the ”cliches” of a touristical third world destination...very cheap, noisy, dirty, and this impresion that you just converted in a very shining white wallet full of money.
I could afford the luxury to take a cab to go directly to Ubud in the center of the Island (one hour drive...15€) and avoid spending the night in the superticial and full of Australian drunk dumbies beach of Kuta.
Ubud is in reality a funny agglomeration of villages, and the cultural capital of Bali.
It is also touristical but at this time of the year not overcrowded.
In itself it is not really a beautiful town and there’s not many attractions to see, so why foreigners love Ubud ?
It is generally famous for its good food, the spas, and the Balinese dance shows...and as a good tourist I did as expected from me:
• Food is really okay although after a while I became a little saturated with fried bananas, peanut sauce and rice !
• Of course I obviously couldn’t resist the spa experience which consisted of a one hour full body massage (nothing erotic even if the masseur insisted maybe a little bit on my bums...), then an exfoliation product with honey, then yogurt (so for once in my life I felt like a giant cake !). And to finish a flower bath (ok I’m not such a pussy and I had asked for a seaweed bath...don’t know why I had the flowers instead ! anyway after the cake I could experience being a Balinese princess).
• I assisted to two different dancing shows, because they are many different types of dances...the first one was a Legong and the second one a Kecak (o fire dance), nice but frankly a bit of a turist trap.
Still what I enjoyed the most in my two days in Ubud was renting a scooter for an afternoon to explore the countryside around and to visit some temples in the other neighbourhoods. At first it seems totally dangerous and crazy...but then you realize nobody goes very fast anyway because of the road, the people, the trucks anf the others motorbikes, then you understand that there are just no rules, everybody can stop everywhere, can do whatever they want...you start to do the same just trying to avoid bumping into someone in front of you (for the one behind you no worries, they are the one who are supposed to look !) making yourself notice from time to times with your horn if needed. After one hour or so it even gets really fun and exciting (far more than my bungee jumping in NZ for instance!) and the only real trouble is just finding your way, because there are almost no road signs.
Plus it really helped me for my next three days because I rented a car to visit the east of the Island. And what a “car” ! it was a Suzuki Jimmy. From outside it looks like a small jeep for 2 people (nice!), but of course it is not a 4 WD, I could not go further than 70 km/h (imposible to actually go faster than that with the driving conditions here), the radio didn’t work (at least I had air con), rearviewmirror and seat broken...probably the most crappy car I’ve ever droven...but somehow I liked it and it felt really “local”, and it managed to take me to my destination without any trouble (not even a policeman to bribe), so I won’t complain.
Anyway , alone with my buddy Jimmy, we travelled to the amazing rice fields first to Pura Besakih temple, the biggest and most sacred site of the island, on the feet of Mount Agung volcanoe. Most travellers have to face here the constant harassment of the “false guides mafia” and they are apparently very annoying. But I got very lucky since I arrived there on a rainy day and there was at the moment a huge and very crowded ceremony...so nobody really cared about me and I could enjoy the temple at is best (just see the pics), it was a very special sensation, very spiritual, even if I understand nothing about this complex religion (they have many gods and demons, a complicated caste system still existing and a very large mythology as well).
After that I spent the night in an outstanding balinese countryside landscape of terrace rice fields.
On the next day I made my way through Amed on the northeast coast. The place has become increasingly touristical in the last few years. Now the coastshore is full of restaurants and bungalow hotels for about 8 kms. Here come mostly european tourists for diving. Guess what ? I did the same!
The snorkelling was not as impressive as Australia though, the water wasn’t that clear for a start, and since we are on the thirld word the garbage management doesn’t really exist so you find rubbish on the beach and in the water...But I also wanted to dive for a second time on a very special site. The wreck of an american second war ship called the “Liberty”. Since I’m not a certified diver, once again I had to do an introduction dive...but nothing to do with my first experience: I had two dives of 50 min (instead of one of 20 for less than half the price), and our instructor an englishman called David gave us much more explanations and independence. The site is also perfect for beginners, it’s a huge boat of 100m long lying close to the beach between 5 and 30m deep. So it is very easy to access, I guess we dived to 10, 12m...and on the second time since we were doing well we could even “enter” in the wreck !! corals, fishs, wreck...frankly I felt like Jacques Cousteau! it was unbelievable...and just my second diving day in my life, problably one of my top 5 experiences in my journey. I was also told afterwards that is it one of the most famous diving sites in Asia, maybe that’s the reason why at some point we were like 15 divers around the wreck even if we were on low season.
After that I drove back to Ubud to drop off Jimmy, and came back to the coast to take a fast boat for the Gili islands near Lombok, the next big Island on the east of Bali.
Just 5 days in “the island of Gods” then, but 5 amazing ones. This is not the most beautiful place I’ve seen, but I really loved it. The spa, the drive, the dive helped of course but above all what really surprised me is that Bali still has a lot of personality...it’s overcrowded with tourists but people seem to live as always (even globalization with internet, cell phones, western music everywhere doesn’t seem to have change that much their habits), they are also very welcoming, not agresive at all with foreigners. In conclusion, to me Bali is still Bali (you just have to get outside of the beach resorts to find it), hope you’ll see it before that changes.
